Join the Conversation

School plan includes summer projects

Keith Trout
1:38 p.m. PDT April 10, 2014

After a presentation from Superintendent Keith Savage, the Lyon County School District Board of Trustees at its March 25 meeting approved its five-year capital improvement plan, including projects planned in the coming year.

The district just approve a five-year CIP each year and Savage noted some of the capital improvement funds must be spent by this summer.

He explained capital projects in the CIP are funded by these types of capital funds: building and sites fund, which gains funding from interest collected, which isn’t much, he added; capital projects fund (Governmental Services Tax, gathered from the motor vehicle privilege tax); residential construction tax fund, which is levied on building permits; and bond fund (proceeds from bond issues).

Savage said a few years before, the board took an in-depth look at capital project needs and made a list of projects to do, and while they did several of those, some of those haven’t been accomplished yet.

Under the capital projects fund, he noted money has been set aside each year ($250,000 for resurfacing of the rubberized tracks at Dayton, Fernley and Yerington high schools and the synthetic turf football/soccer fields at Dayton and Fernley high schools. He said if they didn’t set the money aside, they would have a big amount needed when the project was done, which is estimated would need to be done within about eight years after installation.

Among projects planned for this summer — although the superintendent said they might not be able to do all of them — including ceiling/acoustical tile replacement at the Cottonwood Elementary School multipurpose room and main building ($60,000); in the Yerington High School multi-purpose room ($20,000); and at the Fernley Intermediate School multipurpose room ($20,000), as the glue is beginning to fail in these sites. This funding would come from the bond fund.

These projects are listed on the bond projects fund for 2013-14 and 2014-15 (split evenly).

Savage indicated the district board has placed priority on career and technical education and several projects are related to improvements in that area, with funding from the bond funds. These projects planned for this summer also include $180,000 for the Fernley High School welding shop, which he says has been outgrown and a new building is planned next to the existing shop building, with a wall knocked out between them; $80,000 for a FHS wood shop retrofit (plus $72,000 for engineering for both); and $60,000 for a Dayton High School wood shop storage building.

Another major upcoming project is for improvements and lighting for the Cottonwood Elementary School parking areas, which with engineering is estimated to cost $320,000 (funding in 2013-14 and 2014-15 in bond fund).

Under the residential construction fund, the two items listed on the CIP for 2014-15 are for a ticket booth and concession stand (added to $75,000 in the current year) at Dayton High School football field and $30,000 towards the woodshop storage building at DHS. This funding is collected by community/area and must be spent in that area. To date in 2013-14, $99,712 was collected from the Dayton area to this date and that area’s fund has $263,922.10.

Another planned project is $50,000 for a Fernley Elementary School irrigation backflow project, funded in the bond fund.

Other projects proposed but with no specifics on dates or costs are roof replacement of the Yerington Intermediate School locker room and YHS multipurpose room and the Dayton Elementary School multipurpose room, as Savage said they are in “dire need of replacement.”

Trustee Neil McIntyre asked about the Fernley Elementary School parking lot improvement project planned with the city of Fernley.

Savage said Safe Routes to School grant funding has been delayed and that project has been pushed back to summer of 2015. A total of $405,000 is listed in the capital projects fund (government services tax fund) for this project in 2014-15.